The most popular landscaping trends for 2017: Distinctive front yards are making a comeback

Here are the most popular landscaping trends for 2017

In 2017, distinctive front yards are making a comeback, “smart” outdoor lighting is beginning to trend, and new homeowners are going gaga for personalized landscape design, according to the latest U.S. Houzz Landscape Trends Survey.

Houzz, a leading home remodeling and design platform, recently conducted the survey among 1,000 of its online participants — all of whom are U.S. homeowners who are either working on an outdoor renovation project, have recently completed a project, or are planning to start one in the next three months.

Perhaps most interestingly, customized landscaping is on the rise. In fact, according to the survey, having purchased a home and wanting to personalize it tops the list of landscaping motivations for the very first time. A whopping 33 percent of homeowners expressed wanting to “make (my home) my own” via landscape design, as opposed to last year’s 25 percent.

In addition, the share of outdoor projects triggered by something breaking down declined slightly since last year’s study (32 percent versus 2016’s 36 percent), which seems to be in line with Houzz’s findings that many homeowners reported that their last outdoor updates happened over 10 years ago.

Personalized front yards are also making a statement. The survey found that a mere 6 percent of front yards are nearly identical to others in the neighborhood after outdoor projects, compared with over a third before the update. And, in addition, nearly half of all outdoor projects involve street-facing spaces (44 percent). Nonetheless, the study revealed that front lawns are much more likely to be removed than back or side lawns, with environmental considerations being a stronger motivator for front lawns.

Homeowners are lighting up the outdoors too. Lighting and irrigation systems were found to be among the most popular outdoor system upgrades, at 45 percent and 37 percent, respectively. And, interestingly, 1 in 5 homeowners choose “smart” outdoor lighting, which can be controlled by a computer or mobile device.

A few other key findings of the survey include: a high interest in low-maintenance plants, insect/bird attractant plants, and native plants, as well as attention to cultivating curb appeal. Homeowners are updating their front yards with a plethora of landscape features that include beds and borders, shrubs, and perennials (28 percent).

You can view the full findings here, by downloading the 2017 U.S. Houzz Landscape Trends Survey.